James Cameron wasn't even trying...

[Solo]

[*Avatar thread.]

Um, spoilars ahead. Ye be warned.

So I just watched Avatar and I was thoroughly satisfied - save for one thing. But before I get into that I want to throw out that I opted to see it without the marvelous gimmick that held the movie back for so long, because it was exactly that: a gimmick. I figured if this movie is remotely worth the > $300 million production cost it would wow me just fine without the need of headache inducing glasses. And it did. And yes, I know how awesome the new polarized effect is compared to the old red/blue method - I've seen it. Better: yes; Perfect: no. You're still forcing your eyes to focus on a fixed image while the image is telling your eyes that there are objects at various ranges. The brain and the eyes get into an argument over this and the result can be unpleasant. I figured I was taking a gamble on this to start with, I wasn't going to let needless eye strain drag down my opinion of the movie.

Anyeays, you all know the plot. The white folk are destructive bastards, they find out someone else is sitting on what they "need", some neutral white guy infiltrates the others with the intent to convince them to gtfo peacefully, he falls in love with mother nature and one her sexy sexy inhabitants, betrays whitey, whitey attacks, neutral hero gets blamed for the attack, gives epic motivational speech, regains acceptance, saves the day. You've heard it a hundred times. Nothing original here and no one claimed it would be. Everyone has their role and plays it exactly as labeled. Everyone does everything predictably, on cue, right where you know they should. No plot twists to worry about. No thinking required.

The real spectacle here is ...the spectacle. They made a whole new world, gave it a compete ecosystem full of well thought out animals and plants, a way too humanoid alien species with their own working language, and all the stunning visuals to reinforce you that this is a place you've never seen it before and it's incredible. And they pulled it off. We've had CG critters and scenery in Star Wars and it was convincing enough, so I don't really think it was too groundbreaking... but gorram, they made floating rocks look plausible. Disbelief thoroughly suspended. And a full D short of his complete vision no less. Don't get me wrong, the whole time you know you're looking at something fake, but that's not important. It just looks so good you stop caring.

So there I am, skepticism out the window, enjoying the show despite how utterly stock the story is, and then... well I'm just going to say it. Unobtainium. The thing the humans came to Pandora for is called, literally, unobtainium. They call it that, on screen, with a straight face. Twice. I actually laughed out loud in the theater - that was the single biggest moment of lampshade hanging I've ever witnessed, and in the middle of the most expensive movie ever made? *******. I felt like I was getting trolled. They might as well have called it cake. In case you're confused, "unobtainium" is the long established mock term for whatever mythical item or element that drives the plot. Writers typically have the good sense to think up some b/s technobable term for it, or pick an obscure but existing mineral... or never explicitly mention it to sidestep the matter. Calling it unobtainium on screen is like having the main characters introduce themselves as "The Hero" and "Love Interest". I am at the same time deeply disappointed and highly amused. I just... I just can't see that slipping through -they knew what they were doing and they knew it completely wouldn't matter.

TL;DR: I nominate this for the Lifetime Achievement Award in "Least Original Story Ever" but fully endorse everyone watching it for eye candy alone. I plan to watch this at least once more in the theater, I might even give the 3D edition a shot.

[yankeeken]

Silly Don, everyone knows that Unobtainium is element 999 on the periodic table.

[Solo]

Oh, also, it's a trope.

[Firespray]

You have to see it in 3D at least once, it seriously looks awesome. The 3D they were using for the previews at the beginning messed with my eyes but as soon as the movie started, I was completely fine.

[Lord T]

Phenominal experience that can't be recreated at home. Well worth the price of admission in my opinion.

[GIR3691]

I didn't really get it from reading the name, but when I saw the movie, it was pretty blatant. I can't believe they really did that. It's like saying "We're mining for Cantgetit-ium."

[Robzula]

I think that's hilarious. I bet it's not just a matter of laziness, but just a slap in the face to all us nerds that get it. In a good way.

[theJudeAbides]

I just got back and have to say, it was definately worth the cost of admission. I had to pay an extra $3 for the "3D experience," but I didn't mind that so much. For as much money as was put into this movie, it definately should have been awesome, and it definately lived up to my expectations.

As for the whole "unobtanium" thing, would any of you even noticed or cared if you hadn't visited that tropes site in the first place? I like to think it's James Cameron's way of punishing you nerds for overanalyzing movies and going "durrr, that plot device has been done a million times before..."

...And that's why you don't over-analyze movies.

That'll learn ya! Now quit complaining and enjoy the eye candy.

[Solo]

quit complaining and enjoy the eye candy

Eff you buddy, I'm doin both! Seriously, you don't seem to get my point: trope or no trope it's a stupid term to use onscreen. Instead of putting any thought into naming what could drive humanity out to this crazy new world he though up he said "Screw it. My vision is so brilliant I don't need to worry about the story." The plot device itself absolutely has to be there, that's not generating any complaints... without it there'd be no movie. My gripe, more of a flabbergasted observation really, is how can he possibly think that this will be the new benchmark for science fiction based solely on how it looks.

And you know, the more I think about the movie the less I see it as science fiction. Sure it's got space marines and mech suits... but the real focus is Pandora and the Navi, which is all seething with fantasy elements (floating rocks, impossible wildlife, trees storing the souls of past generations...). That's a very blurry line to draw though and given that he went through the trouble of hiring biologists to describe in depth the flora and fauna of this imaginary alien planet I'm sure he's object to writing it off as fantasy. Sort of how magic is just science that we don't understand, it may follow that fantasy is just science fiction that wasn't fully explained.

Whatever the case I enjoyed it enough to see again. Which I will. Possibly tomorrow.

[Turkguy19]

I find it funnier that the aliens are named after the Fairy companion in Ocarina of Time

[liquidcross]

I find it funnier that the aliens are named after the Fairy companion in Ocarina of Time

Or the digital characters in the Mega Man Battle Network series.

Regarding the original topic...I believe Cameron wanted to put in a reference that longtime scifi nerds would laugh at, and he completely succeeded in this endeavour. It wasn't "laziness" or any of that other nonsense; it was clear and direct poking fun at technobabble. Considering that the word "unobtainium" itself wasn't the plot (the substance in the film could've been replaced with any other object or resource that humans wanted), this much drama over it is laughable.

[GIR3691]

I guess we're all mad because it was the only implausible thing in the entire movie.

[Solo]

Exactly Gir. Floating mountains and talking to trees and animals with your hair is one thing. Unobtainium is where I draw the line.

[irmasturcheeflol]

I saw it in 3-D and it was amazing and I only paid $6 because it was tuesday.

[BigBenKenobi]

I saw it in 3D as well, and all I could say when my friends and I walked out of the theatre was WOW, what an amazingly awesome movie. We had to drive 30 minutes to get to a threatre with a 3D showing, but we were all just taken back by the entire thing, and that made the drive worth it. So if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it .

[Solo]

I just ran across this, which is pretty interesting and pulls the movie back away from fantasy:

About the floating mountains: From a Condensed Matter physicist.

The reason humans are on Pandora is to mine a mineral, Unobtainium. I speculate that this is a high-temperature superconductor. First, I will review a few facts about High Tc superconductors. In the second paragraph I will point out several pieces of evidence that support my conclusion.

Type 2 superconductors were discovered in the 1980s, by accident. After over 20 years of theoretical and experimental study, we still cannot explain exactly how they work. There is no theoretical limit to the temperature at which materials can superconduct. No one knows if there are more than 2 types of superconductors. A very peculiar behavior (of a substance we discovered by accident) is that when lowered from above the superconducting critical temperature in the presence of a magnetic field, they trap the magnetic flux inside the superconducting region. If the magnetic field has a gradient, the superconductor will remain locked in place and float. Here is a pic. If we were able to find a high temperature superconductor, it would be extremely valuable, possibly millions of dollars per pound.

I believe that unobtainium is a high temperature superconductor, and the floating mountains are made out of unobtainium in the presence of a strong magnetic field gradient. The first evidence of the nature of unobtainium is the piece in the boss' office. It floats, and there is no evidence that humans have developed artificial gravity (see pic, look familiar). Because the material conducts at high temperature it does not need to be cooled. Second piece of evidence is that there is a "flux vortex" right near the floating mountains. Only an extremely large magnetic field would cause the equipment on the ships to malfunction. In the presence of high magnetic field gradients the metallic ships would have to fly very slowly to avoid large eddy currents that might damage equipment. There are large geological structures that suggest magnetic field lines. These could plausibly be structures with ferromagnetic properties (like iron) that would focus the flux into those structures. (here is a pic.) Given that we have large deposits of a likely candidate for a high temperature superconductor and very likely extremely high magnetic field gradients (what else would be a "flux vortex"), I believe that it is very likely that the movie makers intended us to conclude. There were large deposits of unobtainium that cooled below their critical temperature in the presence of extremely high magnetic field gradients. While the rest of the mountain eroded, only the parts that were dense enough with superconductor floated.

This is by no means scientifically excluded from reality, it is just something we do not observe on Earth.

Edit: For those who still might not be convinced that something that large could be held aloft by magnetic fields, consider this picture of a solar prominence with Earth in the picture to scale. Pic

[Robzula]

I don't know whether to be more amazed that the film makers (apparently) put that much thought into this world or that someone actually figured it out just from looking at a floating rock.

[Blacknight]

Apparently unobtanium is a term that has been used by geologists for a while to describe rare materials. As has been said, it's the least of the problems in a movie starring blue talking cat people.

[Jedd the Jedi]

I enjoyed the film, but more for its technical achievements than much else. The story in essence was fairly predictable, but the performance-capture process and the performances themselves elevated the movie. It's not the life-changing experience some make it out to be, but it was revolutionary and groundbreqaking in its own right.

[Jedi Joe]

So if the floating mountains were made of unobtainium, then why did they have to destroy the skyscraper-sized tree to mine it?