Fire Pit: Thoughts on the world of 'Avatar

Andrew Herzog, host of The Bonfire on TheBlaze Radio Network, shares the latest news on the James Cameron "Avatar" series and his opinion of the first movie in the franchise:

Zoe Saldana, who plays the lead female role in "Avatar," recently shared that production for the first of four sequels will begin in April next year. Co-star Sigourney Weaver also said, “The three scripts I’ve read so far are many times more amazing than the first one in terms of their scope,” and director James Cameron revealed, “Christmas of ’17 is the target [for theatrical release]."

By this time next year, we’ll be back on Pandora.

Now I’ve heard many people over the years criticize the first movie, despite it getting an 83% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

They say the science fiction/fantasy film is just a rip-off of the 1990 western drama "Dances with Wolves" starring Kevin Costner. I’ve never seen that movie, but based on the synopsis, that does actually appear to be the case.

Regardless, I still consider "Avatar" to be an entertaining film because it’s a great source of escapism. Can you travel to a distant part of the galaxy, grow your hair out, and plug it in to pterodactyls that will fly you anywhere you want to go? I don’t think so. It’s fun to immerse yourself in something you don’t experience every day, if at all. That’s the appeal of many science fiction stories.

Furthermore, I don’t care that "Avatar" is strikingly similar to "Dances with Wolves." They share similar narratives, but so do countless other blockbusters.

You mean to tell me you can’t enjoy a story that has already been told before by someone else? You can’t enjoy "Star Wars," where it’s good versus evil filled with action sequences and some love scenes, and also enjoy "Lord of the Rings," where it’s good versus evil filled with action sequences and some love scenes? Of course you can.

Several hundred movies can all share the same themes and general plot patterns and still be enjoyable. Another case in point: Jason Bourne and James Bond. Both are skilled spies/assassins going solo and beating the bad guys with an assortment of weapons and martial arts, yet I enjoy both of them very much with their nuanced differences. (I can even know the ending of a movie and still be entertained, e.g. "Star Wars Rogue One.") All that matters is the quality of nuance. If Bourne’s name was James Bourne, born and raised in Great Britain, bedding women left and right, and always driving a nice car, then I would be disappointed and bored with Bourne. Fortunately, this is not the case.

There are only so many story themes and plots in the world that we can create, so naturally there’s going to be some crossover. I complain a lot about Hollywood’s lack of creativity and originality, but switching up the characters and locations can sometimes do the trick. "Avatar" is different enough for being beautifully shot and set on a lush moon somewhere in another star system with alien bodies that can be remote controlled by humans. No Union soldiers and Indians to be found here.

As I explain in the podcast, I’m willing to give Cameron a chance to keep me interested in his world. He’s got one year to release a trailer for the first sequel that will compel me to buy a movie ticket.

I’ll probably be seeing you soon, Pandora.