man i love all these scfi movies where the primitive race manages to beat the advanced race because the advanced race likes to get right down in the shit instead of just blasting everything from orbit.

8/21/2009 11:27:49 AM

Like in RotJ: One ISD could wipe clean the jungle in a square mile around the generator. Generator doesn't got down. The rebels never destroy the death star. Luke is killed while trying to escape with the traitor darth vader.

8/21/2009 11:36:57 AM

weren't the star destroyers a little busy having dudes crashing into their bridges at the time?

8/21/2009 11:49:41 AM

Yea but the destruction of alot of the imperial fleet was the result of having to fall back to defend the death star after the shield went down. If it had remained up, the death start would have continued to pick off rebel cap ships making the fighters easy work for the imperial fleet.

8/21/2009 11:54:29 AM

What are some other scifi movies where primitive races somehow beat advanced races?

I mean theres the obvious example of Aliens, but even they realized the best solution was to just nuke it from orbit.

There are a number of films where humans manage to outwit advanced invading races. Indepedence day: somehow they manage to reverse engineer the systems of an incredibly advanced race and then find a pretty damning exploit.

I guess you could say stargate is kind of the same thing, but really the technology levels weren't that different. Guns that shoot bullets vs staffs that shoot bolts of something. Bullets still go through people pretty well.

8/21/2009 11:59:41 AM

i'll be skipping this one

8/21/2009 12:00:16 PM

^^

the xenomorphs from the Alien series are not an example of an advanced alien race

8/21/2009 12:01:44 PM

although going back to independence day its kind of retarded that heres this advanced race that can travel huge distances make big ass ships with inpenatrable shields but they decide that instead of just blasting the shit out of stuff from orbit, they're going to fit big ass, vulnerable weapons in the middle of they ships that must be placed a few hundred feet of their target to work. hurrrrr

8/21/2009 12:02:18 PM

Quote :

"the xenomorphs from the Alien series are not an example of an advanced alien race"

right. they're the primatives, the humans are the advanced race. Instead of sending down some grunts to clear them out the obvious solution is to just nuke them from orbit.

8/21/2009 12:03:03 PM

oh right. And then theres predator 2. Where for some god damned reason Danny fucking Glover manages to take down a predator? What the fuck is that?

8/21/2009 12:04:35 PM

ah ok, well

I just don't think that thinking about them with that dichotomy is correct

8/21/2009 12:04:56 PM

Although he did have a shotgun with a scope on it at one point in that movie.

8/21/2009 12:05:11 PM

Well my point was that movies like RotJ or Avatar try to make the point that primative races can still fight back despite overwhelming technological disadvantages. But in reality their premises are always rely on the idea that the advanced race will stoop to the level of the primitives. Since that would be retarded from a tactical standpoint, in reality the primitives have no chance to survive and should make their time.

Aliens is kind of different in that the marines didnt know what they were getting into, but when the finally realized their new (and correct) plan was to roll nerve gas into the facility and kill everything or failing that nuke it from orbit. I guess its not the same because the point of marines vs aliens in close quarters was for action and suspense rather than the RotJ style "oh ho ho looks like the human(or ewok) spirit trumps your technology"

8/21/2009 12:10:53 PM

i didn't see anything posted, but whats the reason behind killing the blue ewoks in avatar? Just to be dicks? Planetary resources? Colonization?

If its resources and/or colonization I could see the need to destroy the native population without making the planet inhabitable. But even then, if they've managed to find a way to put a dude inside one of the blue ewoks they could probably create a blue ewok specific virus and deliver it under a banner of peace (smallpox blanket style).

8/21/2009 12:19:04 PM

The humans are probably fighting these guys because they want their planet.

Nuking it from orbit seems like a poor idea.

8/21/2009 1:04:06 PM

this is like star wars meets ferngully

or maybe just ferngully

8/21/2009 1:28:11 PM

meets Dances with Wolves?

8/21/2009 1:37:57 PM

Quote :

"What are some other scifi movies where primitive races somehow beat advanced races? "

You also have the slight variation on it whereas the advanced alien civilization travels light years to the planet Earth, bring humanity to its knees, and then find some small innocuous thing that annihilates them. Like germs. Or water. Both are rather incredulous for an advanced, galaxy traveling species, but the latter one in particular boggles my mind given that our planet's surface is covered two thirds by said lethal substance.

Technology + Hubris = Dead Alien Invaders

8/21/2009 2:51:45 PM

THAT'S IT MAN, GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE GONNA DO NOW?

WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?

8/21/2009 3:03:24 PM

im just gonna say we go out on a tangent and just discuss this with the overall theme being shitty writing for alien races that doesn't make any sense.

The number 1 example being the retard aliens from Signs that have intergalactic travel, but when they go to invade a planet they decide to run around in people's fields, jump on their roofs, get trapped in closets, and get killed by water. Seriously. Worst alien race design and writting of all time bar none.

The prawn in District 9 are kind of interesting, but the idea that theres a big ass ship with only one dude who can pilot it is pretty weak. The one thing I did like was that their actual technology was just so beyond ours and when used against humans even by an untrained user it was completely devistating. It left you with the idea that if the aliens did decide to come back theres fuck all the human race can do to stop them from wiping us out.

8/21/2009 3:37:21 PM

I didn't know James Cameron got into directing after his acting stint on Growing Pains

8/21/2009 4:00:57 PM

Aliens meets World of Warcraft!

8/21/2009 6:56:36 PM

responses from the 16 minute imax preview seem to mirror those of the trailer. (the cgi is good, but very obviously cgi)

that being said, i can't wait to see it.

8/22/2009 12:19:14 AM

i dont think most of ya'll realize that this is 3-D and is said to revolutionize cinema like when it went from black and white to color
those are big claims and are worth seeing if they are true

8/22/2009 12:30:51 AM

What is causing large masses of earth to float above the surface of the planet, and what use is the conquest of a planet with a toxic atmosphere?

How is it going to be 3D differently than other productions have been?

I really don't like productions that demonize humanity for no apparent purpose, a huge cinematic turnoff.

8/22/2009 1:03:44 AM

^from reviews i heard its like comparing a mazda miata to a chrysler crossfire
in other words 3-d is childs play compared to this
this will make you really thing you are there
the technology uses 2 cameras and filetering glasses, which filter different part of the image through to your left and right eye
so you see just like in real life
its kind of like a 3-D sound demo you will find on the internet using 2 microphones and headphones

[Edited on August 22, 2009 at 1:23 AM. Reason : .]

8/22/2009 1:23:12 AM

^I think that many movies have made use of surround sound to aid in immersion into the movie. Since discrete speakers are used rather than fancy stereo processing, the effects still work for most seats in the theater. I think too fancy of mixing and audio processing would make the experience worse for all but the people located in the center of the theater since 5 milliseconds difference is less than a 2m change in position (which it would actually be half that since moving left 1 meter means you're both 1 meter closer to the left speaker and 1 meter farther from the right speaker). As for the CGI and 3D, some of the reviews I have seen say that the trailer makes the aliens look much more cartoon-y than they look in the production. However, as a glasses wearer, I still don't like 3D glasses, and can't see how the new CGI 3D scenes can be more 3D than previous 3D scenes (T2 in 3D for instance). Although I can see how the stereoscopic cameras will allow the mastering of the film and CG segments to produce a truer experience. I can also see a lot of 50+ men watching this movie, it has Sigourney Weaver, and generally all 50+ men seem to enter some type of coma when her name is mentioned. I still can't see how the movie can end well.

8/22/2009 10:19:33 AM

^ So don't go fucking see it.

8/22/2009 11:14:53 AM

I think what he is trying to say is that threads about movies should only be for people who like the movie.

8/23/2009 8:41:35 AM

Quote :

"^from reviews i heard its like comparing a mazda miata to a chrysler crossfire in other words 3-d is childs play compared to this this will make you really thing you are there the technology uses 2 cameras and filetering glasses, which filter different part of the image through to your left and right eye so you see just like in real life"

umm... sounds like you've just described the 115 year old process of creating 3D films

8/23/2009 2:26:27 PM

final fantasy the spirits within repeat


uncanny valley out the wazoo

8/23/2009 2:27:53 PM

so you're saying that 3D films are ugly, bloated cars that don't handle or shift well

and avatar is a small, nimble, 50/50 weight balance car with a zippy top end and the best gearbox on the market?

8/23/2009 2:29:21 PM

saw this trailer again before Inglorious Basterds. Seeing it on the big screen in a cinema setting instead of on a computer made me change my mind. This movie is actually very intriguing.

8/23/2009 5:14:16 PM

Right now I'm putting it in the same bucket as 10,000 B.C.

Seeing the trailer for this makes me think it's a tasteless CGI blockbuster. It would be fun to see, but only once, and only when it's new, because special effects tend to get dated pretty quickly.

8/25/2009 3:01:53 AM

10,000 BC wasn't the first movie with CGI. This is supposed to be the first movie with LEGIT 3D.

8/25/2009 4:17:52 AM

8/25/2009 6:56:17 AM

shitty quality bootleg of the new trailer

http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/6001/Avatar-Trailer-Bootleg

10/23/2009 1:40:00 PM

Looks really good, would seem to be a great cinematic experience, but it undoubtedly demonizes mankind.

10/23/2009 3:03:12 PM

saw the trailer before saw VI, looks like a pretty weird movie but probably worth a watch

10/23/2009 4:00:21 PM

just saw the new trailer last night. does anyone know where I can see it again. Can't find it anywhere.

10/28/2009 3:47:59 PM

Quote :

" I can also see a lot of 50+ men watching this movie, it has Sigourney Weaver, and generally all 50+ men seem to enter some type of coma when her name is mentioned. I still can't see how the movie can end well."

I am not 50+ but she does have this effect on me.

10/28/2009 4:05:50 PM

^^ they've officially released it online now

http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/6100/Avatar-Trailer-HD

10/29/2009 3:17:30 PM

I'm amped to all hell to see this movie. Anyone analyzing the tactical military realism or comparing this to something like 10,000BC needs to stop eating paint.

10/29/2009 5:32:36 PM

looks pretty

lame premise

10/29/2009 5:47:24 PM

I thought the opposite. Looks fake, interesting premise.

Its pretty rare in Sci-Fi movies for humans to be the bad guys.

10/29/2009 5:51:40 PM

I am expecting a decent movie.

I will let myself be surprised or disappointed. No hype.

10/29/2009 6:08:14 PM

except when the good guys are cuter looking than the humans

10/29/2009 6:19:01 PM

this movie will keep my attention and therefore i will enjoy it. yaye for imax

10/29/2009 6:23:11 PM

Tactical realism is that a neutron bomb would have ended the conflict post-haste without any damage to the resources wanted to be harvested. I think it may be a spectacular film, and it may be redeeming in the fact that the second trailer seems to showcase a human resistance against the military operation that is greater than just the avatars. Who knows. It's up in the air.

10/29/2009 6:29:04 PM

What if the resources they want are biological?

Seems possible, they could get mineral resources anywhere, this planet will have unique biology that a neutron bomb would render useless.

[Edited on October 29, 2009 at 7:25 PM. Reason : b]

10/29/2009 7:24:23 PM