|
Post by tangent on Jan 13, 2010 17:26:43 GMT
I like this title for it: Dancing With Smurfs. =^-^=
|
|
|
Post by jonathan on Jan 13, 2010 18:27:00 GMT
...wait.
Is it actually called unobtainium in the film? Unironically?
|
|
|
Post by Ally on Jan 13, 2010 18:56:53 GMT
Yup. To me it just sounds like a placeholder name that they later couldn't think of a replacement for. (Hell, even an awful pun like 'levitatium' would have been better than 'unobtainium' - it's a truly stupid word).
|
|
|
Post by stokerino on Jan 13, 2010 18:57:20 GMT
I too was quietly astonished that the characters were able to use that name with a straight face.
|
|
|
Post by Emily on Jan 13, 2010 21:20:22 GMT
There was a moment of "wait... is this a joke? no its part of the film" I'd just assumed that anything with such a ridiculous name must actually be real (some of the stuff down the bottom of the periodic table is pretty daft) buuut I didn't think it really made stuff float though. so it is just a dumb name? damn.
|
|
|
Post by tangent on Jan 13, 2010 21:26:15 GMT
|
|
Nayru
Pirate
Newbie
Posts: 76
|
Post by Nayru on Jan 14, 2010 3:30:31 GMT
Yup. To me it just sounds like a placeholder name that they later couldn't think of a replacement for. (Hell, even an awful pun like 'levitatium' would have been better than 'unobtainium' - it's a truly stupid word). yes, well, the characters who referred to it were truly stupid characters. what i wanted to know is what the hell did they need that stuff for so badly? what was its practical use? oh, and i do agree, despite the film's blatant unoriginality it was excellent (especially seeing it in 3d at an imax theater ;D ...too bad we didn't get there early enough to get good seats though...)
|
|
|
Post by Ally on Jan 14, 2010 8:39:05 GMT
Reading that, it could've been worse. They could've gone with "handwavium".
|
|
|
Post by Emily on Jan 14, 2010 9:22:29 GMT
presumably- it's some kind of anti-grav device fuel seeing as it floats...?
|
|
|
Post by tangent on Jan 14, 2010 11:16:24 GMT
From what I recall from TV Tropes, it's a room-temperature (or temperate climate at least) superconductor. The floating is caused by interactions with the planet's magnetic field.
Personally, I'd have towed one of those big mountains to a remote area and then used explosives to blow apart the mountain and mine the Unobtainium, but that's me.
|
|
|
Post by Ally on Jan 14, 2010 15:41:27 GMT
I don't think Ratcliffe crazy army guy wanted to pass up the opportunity to kill a few cat-monkey-Smurfs.
|
|
Nayru
Pirate
Newbie
Posts: 76
|
Post by Nayru on Jan 14, 2010 22:39:46 GMT
so i wonder what the people who are "allowed" to stay behind that don't have avatars do. do they spend the rest of their lives with those little masks on or do they create more avatar bodies?
|
|
|
Post by silverwolf on Jan 15, 2010 2:08:46 GMT
so i wonder what the people who are "allowed" to stay behind that don't have avatars do. do they spend the rest of their lives with those little masks on or do they create more avatar bodies? Probably they help the Na'vi start a business selling biotech to Earth and then open a bunch of casinos. It didn't seem so anti-capitalism to me, more anti-greedy-idiot-bastard. Particularly when Sigourney Weaver was trying to impress upon the single-minded CEO that the discoveries she was making were bigger than even the unobtainium they could be mining. Something like "hey, moron, we could be on the ground floor of saving the terran ecosystem AND the infrastructure with a petri dish and some Miracle-gro!!!"
|
|
|
Post by stokerino on Jan 18, 2010 9:57:45 GMT
Yeah, but that's what capitalism is. Ruthless exploitation of resources with profit as the unwavering goal.
It's essentially "pls don't cut down the rainforests", in space.
|
|
|
Post by Ally on Jan 18, 2010 18:26:54 GMT
Yeah, but that's what capitalism is. Ruthless exploitation of resources with profit as the unwavering goal. I'd say that's what capitalism often turns out to be, but not necessarily what it inherently is - at least, not in such emotive terms. For example, Em's business is capitalist (at least, it falls under what I'd define as capitalism, and I may well have got it wrong), but it's hardly exploitative - and although profit is one goal, making art she's proud of is another. Even corporate capitalism isn't *always* ruthlessly exploitative. Very usually, yes - but some are changing. In The Corporation the CEO of Allied Carpets had the environmental impact of his corporation brought home to him, and he's currently making a huge effort to change company policy so the corporation becomes more environmentally friendly.
|
|
Nayru
Pirate
Newbie
Posts: 76
|
Post by Nayru on Jan 18, 2010 22:33:04 GMT
perhaps "consumerism" is a better description?
|
|
|
Post by stokerino on Jan 18, 2010 23:23:45 GMT
I'm not saying that's a complete summary of what defines capitalism, but it's one of the worst bits, and therefore what would be targeted in something that was anti-capitalism.
The nicer and more reasonable bits of capitalism wouldn't be so suitably dramatic for a film...
|
|
|
Post by stuart alman on Jan 20, 2010 21:51:04 GMT
i think the best thing about this film was that it didn't try to ram the 3D down your throat and just really improved the scenery
|
|
|
Post by stokerino on Jan 21, 2010 10:43:37 GMT
True. But then of course you had some people complaining that the 3D wasn;t "significant enough" to make it worthwhile.
Sigh. Can't please everybody.
|
|
|
Post by stuart alman on Jan 21, 2010 12:51:09 GMT
yes but most of these people were either
a) the same 8 year olds that claimed lord of the rings was "OH MY GOD THE BEST FILM EVER!!!" b) retards c) someone who hadn't actually seen a 3D film before
d) the only people with a legitimate excuse people like ally who lack the ability to see 3D
|
|