James Cameron borrows from life.

You are allowed to call me an SF geek (I have been for years), as well as a movie geek, but I admit to having enjoyed "Avatar" for much the same reason as I enjoyed "Finding Nemo": the latter movie included the backscatter and haze that we love, and James Cameron seems to have created his alien world of "Pandora", which is the best thing in the new movie, by transplanting marine animals (spiral fanworms, medusae, coral fluorescence and colonial organisms are obvious) into his (non)-"terrestrial" forest, as well as the boulders that you see suspended beneath tidal shore ice into floating mountains (that the elderly will recognise from Roger Dean's artwork on album covers in the '70s)...

... so, is "Avatar" better or worse than Werner Herzog's curiosity "The Wild Blue Yonder", which also raided the underwater world for alien imagery?

Can you find any other movies influenced by the underwater world ("The Deep", "Jaws" etc are too easy, and don't count)?

Tim

what a coincidence! I just arrived home from the movies looking the "Avatar" in 3D. Really really liked it!!

And I could not agree with You more Tim, "Pandora" is the best part in the movie. Really great to recognise all the ocean life brought into this imaginary world, alltough a dinosaur with hammerhead sharks headshape seemed a bit funny.

When the field of Christmas Tree worms started "popping down", my wife looked over to me and said "I know exactly what you're thinking about right now!"

She was right.

Incredible visuals on that movie. Must-See in 3D. I'm not sure if I would want to see it NOT in 3D, frankly.

In 'the blue planet' or 'deep blue - the movie spinoff' they describe how James Cameron based the alien from the movie "The Alien" on a tiny deep sea critter.

I thought the exact same thing about the tube worms and medusas. I pretty much jumped out of my seat when I saw them!

Such an awesome film!

Cheers

Cal

When the field of Christmas Tree worms started "popping down", my wife looked over to me and said "I know exactly what you're thinking about right now!"

I wish this film would hurry up... Pubs open !!!

Dive safe

DeanB

Visually great movie, really enjoyed the 3D too. Characters (and plot) very 2D though! Really pleased I saw it in the cinema.

Alex

In 'the blue planet' or 'deep blue - the movie spinoff' they describe how James Cameron based the alien from the movie "The Alien" on a tiny deep sea critter.

Cal

You are thinking of Phronema. There is pic of one on this web page:

http://news.coml.org/medres/highlights2006...es_hopcroft.htm

I have seen a few of these live since we get them every once in a while in plankton tows in the Gulf of Alaska. They can be over an inch long. When I first saw them operate their extensible mouths I immediately thought of the aliens in 'Aliens'. They are almost transparent increasing the cool factor.

In 'the blue planet' or 'deep blue - the movie spinoff' they describe how James Cameron based the alien from the movie "The Alien" on a tiny deep sea critter.

You are thinking of Phronema. There is pic of one on this web page:

http://news.coml.org/medres/highlights2006...es_hopcroft.htm

 

I have seen a few of these live since we get them every once in a while in plankton tows in the Gulf of Alaska. They can be over an inch long. When I first saw them operate their extensible mouths I immediately thought of the aliens in 'Aliens'. They are almost transparent increasing the cool factor.

Except that Cameron didn't "invent" the "Alien"**. That was a creation of HR Giger, for Ridley Scott's original movie. Still, that may well have been Giger's inspiration, although judging from much of his other artwork his inspiration was probably a bit more....phallic, frankly.

Did you mean "The Abyss" perhaps?

Agree with all prior posters (including Alex) about Avatar. Worth seeing, esp in 3D, but thinnest tissue-paper characters and plot you saw coming a mile away. I actually didn't find the CGI *that* convincing - Sigourney Weaver's 'avatar' clothing seemed painted on like a texture, not much natural physics movement in all the bangles and such hanging off all the natives. Textures were also a bit lacking...but I'm sure the extra programming effort went into the 3D trickery instead. Overall, visuals were more than satisfying.

(**Unless perhaps you're referring to the queen in Aliens? That form hadn't been shown in the prior movies, and could've been Cameron's inspiration (although I think Stan Winston did the actual creature work)).

Except that Cameron didn't "invent" the "Alien"**. That was a creation of HR Giger, for Ridley Scott's original movie. Still, that may well have been Giger's inspiration, although judging from much of his other artwork his inspiration was probably a bit more....phallic, frankly.

 

Did you mean "The Abyss" perhaps?

 

Agree with all prior posters (including Alex) about Avatar. Worth seeing, esp in 3D, but thinnest tissue-paper characters and plot you saw coming a mile away. I actually didn't find the CGI *that* convincing - Sigourney Weaver's 'avatar' clothing seemed painted on like a texture, not much natural physics movement in all the bangles and such hanging off all the natives. Textures were also a bit lacking...but I'm sure the extra programming effort went into the 3D trickery instead. Overall, visuals were more than satisfying.

 

(**Unless perhaps you're referring to the queen in Aliens? That form hadn't been shown in the prior movies, and could've been Cameron's inspiration (although I think Stan Winston did the actual creature work)).

U R correct, Cameron directed the second movie in the Aliens series. Were not all the aliens in the Aliens movies implied to be the same species and had similar protracting mouth parts? You need to see a live Phronema to see the connection.

I think these guys (Bobbit Worm) have been in countless movies... "Tremors" comes to mind. Kevin Bacon!

"Except that Cameron didn't "invent" the "Alien"**. That was a creation of HR Giger, for Ridley Scott's original movie. Still, that may well have been Giger's inspiration, although judging from much of his other artwork his inspiration was probably a bit more....phallic, frankly.

Did you mean "The Abyss" perhaps?"

- I dont really know much about it except from the 2 second reference from the deep blue series. I will defer to you on this

Sorry, science fiction geek, admittedly. Didn't see the documentary though...

I think these guys (Bobbit Worm) have been in countless movies... "Tremors" comes to mind. Kevin Bacon!

 

(image trimmed from quote)

Tremors was a surprisingly entertaining, lowish budget SF/monster movie. Looked like Bacon and Ward (? was that the other actor's name) just plain had fun playing those roles...you almost got the sense they were cracking up laughing in between scenes. The sequels were just abysmal though - not even straight-to-video quality.

It is funny how many 'sourced from nature' alien monsters there are...am I the only one that thinks the Predator's mouth-parts look like they were inspired by a praying mantis's feeding palps (or whatever those thingies are called)? They don't show up well in this pic, but they do hing from the 'corners' of the jaw around the mouth itself....

Hmmm personally I think they based the predator mouth parts on my ex girlfriend..... haha but in all seriousness I never considered the pray mantis! Well spotted.

The forest creatures in Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal"?.....

Lots of tube worms there, I think he even admitted to getting the ideas whilst diving.

I thought it was *fantastic* - incredibly immersive in 3D. The little spinning creatures that landed on Jake reminded me of little jellies or sea wasps. The plot did not have to be incredibly new or fantastic, it was a story told many times in sci fi and in history. Pandora was glorious and I didn't want to leave it even after 2 1/2 hours.

The film really was a wonderful investment of a couple of hours. Beautifully conceived and shot. Cameron is a famous (infamous?!) workaholic and he really gave Avatar his all.

Fabulous; sure set up for a sequel when the earthlings return.

Tremors was a surprisingly entertaining, lowish budget SF/monster movie. Looked like Bacon and Ward (? was that the other actor's name) just plain had fun playing those roles...you almost got the sense they were cracking up laughing in between scenes. The sequels were just abysmal though - not even straight-to-video quality.

 

It is funny how many 'sourced from nature' alien monsters there are...am I the only one that thinks the Predator's mouth-parts look like they were inspired by a praying mantis's feeding palps (or whatever those thingies are called)? They don't show up well in this pic, but they do hing from the 'corners' of the jaw around the mouth itself....

 

 

 

I always thought the Predator was a super-evolved porcelain crab! I saw Avatar in 3D on Sunday - visually incredible. As the first ever full on 3-D blockbuster, it raises an interesting question. You can't enjoy the 3D magic with most home set-ups, so I wonder if DVD sales will be poor. Will this drive a domestic 3D revolution?

I tried to watch Final destination 3D the other day but the colours were rubbish (maybe the cheap glasses you get from blockbusters ???) I enjoyed the 'Blu-ray' version better ... I'm watching 'LIFE' on blu-ray at the mo and its AWESOME !!!

Dive safe

DeanB