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Henning

Oct 29, 2009 - CDT 8:31 AM
says... http://twitter.com/madeby
Henning
Member since:
February 2002
Still looks like a great movie to me and if I know Cameron it will have more than just eye candy. Imagine, kinda like Transformers 2 with a plot

Falcon01

Oct 29, 2009 - CDT 10:36 AM
Falcon01
Member since:
July 2006
Did James Cameron Rip Off Poul Anderson's Novella?

James Cameron's Avatar has been championed as an attempt at original science fiction storytelling in film amongst a sea of remakes and adaptations. But Cameron may have borrowed some of the key aspects of his tale from author Poul Anderson.

Reader Goldfarb pointed us to Call Me Joe, a novella written in 1957 by Golden Age science fiction writer Poul Anderson. Many fans of Anderson suspect that the story was an important influence on Avatar, and some are calling for Anderson to be credited on the film. And it's easy to see why.

Like Avatar, Call Me Joe centers on a paraplegic — Ed Anglesey — who telepathically connects with an artificially created life form in order to explore a harsh planet (in this case, Jupiter). Anglesey, like Avatar's Jake Sully, revels in the freedom and strength of his artificial created body, battles predators on the surface of Jupiter, and gradually goes native as he spends more time connected to his artificial body.

Now, there's nothing wrong with being inspired or influenced by other writers, and Cameron has mentioned a host of influences for Avatar: Dances with Wolves, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs. But it's odd, given some remarkable similarities in the plots, that he doesn't appear to have mentioned Anderson as a specific inspiration.

Should the similarities between Avatar and Call Me Joe cause problems for Cameron, it wouldn't be the first time. After The Terminator came out, writer Harlan Ellison sued the production company for plagiarizing two episodes he wrote for The Outer Limits. Even though Cameron took Ellison's ideas in a very different and novel direction, the company settled with Ellison, who is now acknowledged in the film's credits.


http://io9.com/5390226/did-james-cameron-rip-off-poul-andersons-novella"

Unless this movie gets insanely positive reviews (which I doubt) I will wait for this to come out on video I think.

Henning

Oct 29, 2009 - CDT 11:41 AM
says... http://twitter.com/madeby
Henning
Member since:
February 2002
Well, just because they are both sci-fi doesn't make them more alike than similar movies with the same plot. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is hard to say that a story is original. Especially when it is based some very fundamental sides of human behavior.

From what we have seen so far you could also argue that the movie resemble the likes of "Last Samurai, The" and even "King Kong" and "E.T."

The story that we are all the same and if we just knew our enemy we would think twice about killing them. As Kennedy said:

Quote:
"For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."

[Post edited by Henning on Oct 29, 2009 - CDT 11:58 AM]

John J. Puccio

Oct 29, 2009 - CDT 11:47 AM
says... "It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide." --A.E. Neuman
John J. Puccio
Member since:
March 2002
I met Poul Anderson just a year or two before his death. He lived nearby, and I invited him to speak to one of my classes. He graciously accepted and even decided he'd like to speak to several of my classes since he was out and about that day. At the time he seemed more concerned that people didn't recognize his name as much as they did Ray Bradbury's.

John

NachtDerKriecher

Oct 29, 2009 - CDT 12:11 PM
NachtDerKriecher
Member since:
October 2009
Quote:
Still looks like a great movie to me and if I know Cameron it will have more than just eye candy. Imagine, kinda like Transformers 2 with a plot


Henning,

I completely agree. When I reviewed Cameron's IMAX Aliens of the Deep for DVD Town a few years ago, I learned quite a bit about James Cameron as a director. The man is nothing if not tenacious, and won't settle for anything less than the perfect shot or take.

The trailer looks phenomenal. It reminds me of the level of excitement I had when I saw the first trailer for Star Wars E1: The Phantom Menace. This looks like it has the potential to be a very good movie.

I don't think James Cameron has let us down yet. With movies like Aliens, Terminator 1, 2 and 3 and Titanic I'm sure this will be his next big movie.



- Josh

Falcon01

Oct 29, 2009 - CDT 1:45 PM
Falcon01
Member since:
July 2006
There's a new three minute trailer at Yahoo Movies...

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809804784/video/16357477

mvckalel

Oct 30, 2009 - CDT 11:46 AM
says... I now own UP and Monsters, Inc. on blu-ray!!!
mvckalel
Member since:
October 2007
Josh, remember he wasn't involved in T3.

Once again, this trailer didn't make me feel anything, and Sam Worthington keeps being a MEH actor...

csjlong

Oct 31, 2009 - CDT 2:10 AM
csjlong
Member since:
October 2004
That is one ugly-ass looking piece of shit. My eyes hurt.

Tim Raynor

Oct 31, 2009 - CDT 2:40 AM
says... It looks fake . . . very fake!
Tim Raynor
Member since:
March 2002
Fake

Falcon01

Oct 31, 2009 - CDT 9:06 AM
Falcon01
Member since:
July 2006
The new 3 minute trailer looks a little better. Somehow it doesn't look as fake as the first trailer. Still, I think this is going to be a rental for me.

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