I finally saw Avatar. The flu, catching up with everything I missed while I had the flu, and then New Year’s kept me from seeing it.

This review is going to have some spoilers because so many people have seen it already, and I also don’t think that the plot is that essential to the movie experience.

The Visuals

Stunning.

I’ve never seen anything like it. The physical design and creation of Pandora, was executed brilliantly. Each plant and creature had a distinct look and physiology.

The battle scenes were amazing. I felt completely engaged and invested in the battles. I was saddened by each fallen Na’vi; the indigenous people, and “good guys” of the film.

The 3D shooting was never gimmicky. Not once.

From a visual standpoint, this is without rival, the prettiest movie I have ever seen.

But that’s where my praise ends.

The Story

I don’t need my fiction, music, video games, or any other artistic mediums to agree with my worldview, so when I say that I found the plot thin and disappointing, it’s not because I don’t agree with James Cameron’s politics and philosophies.

The movie was obviously anti-Bush (I can’t stand him), anti-capitalism (I’m all about capitalism), and very critical of America (America’s a good place, but it’s not beyond reproach). I couldn’t care less about any of it, other than it felt dated. I know that James started this movie some eight years ago, and it really showed.

Unobtanium

Unobtanium; the ultra rare, excessively valuable ore that the evil humans were mining on Pandora.

Seriously, unobtanium? Are you kidding me? They took the time to design every aspect of every plant and animal in this world, and they couldn’t take ten minutes to come up with a name that doesn’t sound like poo?

In Joss Whedon’s web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Dr. Horrible sought to steal a substance called “wonderflonium.” The difference between these two corny-ass names is that Joss & Co. did it to be funny, while James did it because “oil” was already taken, and he didn’t take the time to think of something that was even remotely believable.

We are told that unobtanium is worth 20 million (whatever unit of currency they use in this future) a kilo, and that’s supposed to be a ton of money. If that is the case, why does the corporate head-honcho have a big chunk just floating on his desk? Unobtanium alone broke my suspension of disbelief.

Paper-Thin Characters

They developed Jake Sully, Neytiri, and Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver is a natural bad-ass), but the other characters were caricatures; especially the hardened evil commanding officer, and the moronic corporate hack in charge.

These characters were so obtuse that I never once looked at them and saw a fully formed human, making decisions based on a personality. The reason is because they weren’t people, they were straw-men for capitalism and American policy placed on Pandora for the Na’vi to prove incorrect.

The Straw-Man Plot

The Na’vi represent a humanoid species that lives in almost total harmony with the world around them. The problem is that this is unachievable for humans, even though it’s clear that the movie is promoting this idea as the human ideal. The Na’vi live in a world that is designed for them. They can literally link to the animals, plants, and even each other. Humans have no such link. Birds have wings, fish have gills, humans have reason, engineering, and higher thinking. That is how we live and thrive. We have to adapt our environment to survive, we don’t work any other way.

That’s just one of the straw-man arguments that emerged from this. Add in the comparison between the human/ Na’vi war, and the War on Terror. Whether or not you support that war, the differences are staggering. The simple fact that the Na’vi aren’t led by brutal rapist, murdering, warmonger dictators is a big difference.

How Could it Have Been Better?

In Starship Troopers, the humans are actually the villains. It’s done so subtly that a lot of people don’t even notice it the first time. That movie makes a very similar point about human nature, and it does it without beating the audience over the head with a club.

Firefly and Serenity, are filled with absurdest philosophies about the nature of the Universe and God. However, there was always a counterbalance. Sheppard Book was a significant character and man of God.

It’s possible to get a point across without forcing it down the viewer’s throat, and that point is usually more poignant when the viewer comes to the conclusion on his/her own.

The Bottom-Line

I recommend you see this movie in IMAX, because if you aren’t watching it in IMAX 3D, you aren’t doing it right. The visuals are exceptional, and are well worth the price of admission. The plot is thin, and I found it annoying, but I am happy I experienced it.

That being said, there are people I deeply respect who fell in love with this movie, so maybe you’ll like it.

I don’t think I will watch Avatar again on Bluray or DVD.

Apparently Fox announced the cancellation of Dollhouse five days ago and I missed it.

Boobs increase readership... sometimes you've got to pander to your audience

I’m annoyed. Not because Dollhouse was canceled; I expected this.

What really bothers me is that this show never had a chance, and they kept it instead of giving Terminator The Sarah Conner Chronicles an opportunity to shine. Terminator had a devoted and growing fan-base, much like that of Firefly. Dollhouse, while it has devoted fans, they don’t have the same passion, simply because it isn’t as good as Firefly or Terminator ever were.

Making this even sadder, is the fact that Dollhouse finally started hitting its stride in the last three or four episodes; it was starting to shine. Too little too late.

Fox should have canceled Dollhouse last season and let Terminator live for a little while longer.

Dollhouse will eventually air its remaining episodes, then it will be sent to the attic.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I need to turn my brain off, and just take in some mindless television for an hour or two a week; I find it incredibly relaxing. Without fail, Castle always fulfills my compulsive need for something easy to watch. It’s not a cerebral show, it’s never hard to follow, and you don’t have to remember much of anything from week-to-week. However, the characters are amusing, and the murders stories never cease to hold my interest.

Anyway, this week Castle had a Halloween episode that seriously pandered to the sci-fi & comic geek crowds. The show opened with star Nathan Fillion, formerly of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi classics Firefly and Serenity, suit up in his Captain Malcolm Reynolds garb, bust into his living-room while drawing his pistol, and striking a one of his famous poses. I was amused.

They followed up with a generally geeky episode filled with Buffy references, comic book art, vampires, and the pretty female detective costar (Stana Katic) drawing a distinction between comic writer / artist Frank Miller’s work with publishers Dark Horse Comics & Epic Comics… It was a nice homage to Fillion’s past, and (what I’m assuming are) the Firefly fans that watch Castle simply because Fillion is in the show.

If you are looking for truly innovative thinking, not just in terms of technology, but in terms of political and philosophical thought, try science fiction.

I’m not kidding.

The writing of people like Terry Pratchett and Isaac Asimov, or television series such as Battlestar Galactica and Firefly aren’t some kids fantasy of the future. They are fun and entertaining, but they deal with heavy social issues, issues that our news media usually gloss over or ignore because they are too complicated to explain in a soundbite.

Want proof?

Check this out.

A few months ago, cast members from Battlestar Galactica spoke before the United Nations.

Edward James Olmos at the UN

In recent days, Battlestar’s message that “race should never be used as a cultural identifier,” has actually changed UN language, and in turn, policy.

Halo 3: ODST

I just watched  the newest trailer for Halo 3: ODST.

As I was watching, I kept feeling like the voice of the guy narrating was very familiar… then it hit me! It’s the voice of the coolest sci-fi hero since Han Solo; Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of the Serenity. Well, actually it’s actor Nathan Fillion, but you know what I mean. As the trailer progressed, I realized that they are also using his likeness.

Just to be sure that I was correct before blogging about it, I looked the game up on IMDB and saw that Fillion isn’t the only Firefly alum in the game. Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin, as well as Battlestar Galactica veteran Tricia Helfer all play prominent roles in the game. All they need now are a couple voices from Star Trek and Star Wars, and they will have geek “bingo.”

It’s worth watching this one in HD:

Browncoats (Firefly fans) everywhere will be able to follow the Captain into battle when Halo 3: ODST hits store shelves on 9/22/09.

What can I say… Browncoats are excitable, and I am a not ashamed to identify myself as one.

Guitar Hero 5

In other video game news, Activision Blizzard released the complete track list for Guitar Hero 5:

You can view the complete list on GameSpot.

Some of the songs that stand out to me at first glance include:

• Dire Straits – “Sultans of Swing”
• Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
• Queen & David Bowie – “Under Pressure” (coolest baseline ever) (Vanilla Ice sucks)
• Bob Dylan – “All Along the Watchtower”
• The Derek Trucks Band – “Young Funk” (Derek Trucks is the man)
• Gov’t Mule – “Streamline Woman”
• Iron Maiden – “2 Minutes to Midnight”
• Jeff Beck – “Scatterbrain (Live)”
• King Crimson – “21st Century Schizoid Man”
• Peter Frampton – “Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)”
• The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy for the Devil”
• Santana – “No One to Depend On (Live)”

There are many more great ones, but those really stand out to me, and a lot of them surprise me a bit.

Guitar Hero 5 is due out on 9/1/09.

I am back from my adventures in Costa Rica. It was an incredible trip, but I will have more on that later.

I’m still catching up with my life which pressed forward in spite of my absence, so this will be a short one.

Here’s a video from Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy titled, “Things You Never Hear.” Pay close attention to “Things You Never Hear #3,” and keep in mind that I actually wrote yesterday’s post about two weeks ago.

In other geek news, a fan created this fake trailer for a Green Lantern movie staring Firefly and Dr. Horrible’s Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan. The trailer is cheesy yet cool.

I’m rooting for a Green Lantern movie staring Fillion… dare I say, Joss Whedon could direct it.

Last week’s premier of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse captured my interest. I enjoyed it a lot, but it didn’t blow me away like the pilot of Firefly. Episode two is a totally different story.

With the characters and premise fresh in my mind, Joss & co. just dove in headfirst. The episode started typical enough and then BAM! The most outrageous plot twist. I think I had the same facial expression that leading lady Echo (Eliza Dushku) had when the reveal came. I think I was just as shocked and confused as she was. It’s rare when I can watch a scene where I feel the same way as the character in the scene.

The rest of the episode was exceptionally thrilling and clearly planted the seeds for future plot threads and conflict. 

I can’t wait to see where this is going. 

I have no intentions of spoiling it if you didn’t already see it. 

Check out Dollhouse on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/search/Dollhouse?sort_by=relevance&type=episode

The first episode is on there now, I expect the second one will be up soon.

I just got back from a night out and the first thing I did was watch my DVRed Dollhouse. 

I really enjoyed it. It raised a lot of intriguing plot lines and introduced some cool character with a lot of morality problems. I know that Joss Whedon writes character driven stories, so I can’t wait to see how he creates a character driven show with so many characters who’s personalities are regularly wiped clean.

I haven’t watched Terminator yet… it’s really late and I wanted to write a post before I go to bed.

Earlier today I had a brief dialog on the comment board for Occasional Superheroine (one of my latest favorite geek blogs). 

I wrote:

Now that I am thinking about it, I think Fox realizes that Joss has such a loyal fan-base that they might be able to turn these shows into successes through them alone, even on a Friday night. 

They probably figure that the crazy Firefly crowd will rally around the show regardless of the night/time, and then they will stick around to watch Firefly alum Summer Glau on Terminator. 

That’s the only explanation for this that makes any sense to me at all.

After seeing the way that Fox was advertising both shows together during Dollhouse using short commercials featuring Dollhouse’s Eliza Dushku & Terminator (formerly Firefly’s) Summer Glau, I am convinced that Fox is trying to squeeze a hit out of two Friday night shows by using the notoriously loyal Joss Whedon fan-base (In a future post I will write more about Joss Whedon’s fans, the Firefly revival, and the Browncoats. It is an amazing story… but I think I’ve written enough about Joss & Firefly in the past three days to last for a while.). 

I couldn’t find the actual commercials, but here are the outtakes:

Personally, I still think it sucks that Fox is slotting these two shows on a Friday night, but if it keeps both on the air I will be content.

DVR rocks my socks!

Joss Whedon’t new show Dollhouse starts tonight and I really  want it to live a bit longer than Firefly did. 

One of the big reasons that Firefly died so quickly was mismanagement by Fox.

Joss & co. shot an exceptional two hour pilot for the show. It properly introduced viewers to the Universe, its complex character, and the main plot lines. Sadly, Fox decided not to show the pilot until the day it cancelled the show. Instead they showed other episodes. They were great, but viewers never had the chance to properly get to know the characters and were constantly confused even though they enjoyed the show.

To further add to the confusion, Fox’s pre-airing marketing blitz used key footage from the pilot. When viewers started watching the premier, it didn’t look like what they had seen in the commercials and trailers.

Dumb, right?

Well checkout this commercial for Dollhouse and Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Seriously, WTF are they thinking?!?!

This is how I imagine the pitch for this playing-out:

“OK, so we have these two modern sci-fi epics. Let’s just ‘Charlie’s Angels‘ them up. I mean make them look really 1970’s cornball! Let’s washout the colors, set it to outdated music, misrepresent the shows, and use quaint marketing language that was abandoned two decades ago for good reason. That ought to appeal to a demographic that will be utterly uninterested in the show while simultaneously pushing away the people who will actually want to watch it!”

Please Fox! You’ve already dug the both of these shows a grave by slotting them for Friday night. Don’t slay them with stupidity.

Growing up, Star Wars was my pinnacle of sci-fi storytelling. Movie after book after video game, I couldn’t get enough of it. 

Then George Lucas lost his mind and tarnished my beloved galaxy far far away. My love of space-based sci-fi was no more. The spark was gone; blown out by a whirlwind of three movies that might as well have just been fully animated. After-all, they were more machine than man. 

Then one night in my junior year of college my roommates were watching TV. As I walked through the living room and into the kitchen to get a drink of water, I was completely taken by the characters on our tiny television screen. Suddenly my 30 second break from study turned into a five hour sci-fi marathon. The show – Firefly.

Firefly was a short-lived, futuristic sci-fi TV series created by Joss Whedon.

The story takes place mostly aboard a rickety Firefly class spaceship named Serenity. Serenity is captained by an exceptionally honorable thief who has no problems dealing out death to those who cross his path. He and his eclectic crew of thieves travel the Universe committing all manner of crime (which never goes according to plan). 

What I find so striking about this show is that it is told from the fringe. Usually sci-fi epics give you a glimpse of the best that the future has to offer. Firefly follows the losers of a rebellion, who became thieves, and are just trying to evade the control of what they feel is an unjust and tyrannical government. Most of the show takes place on their beat up ship or on impoverished backwater planets. The people feel real and relatable. Their problems are the same problems that we face today. This makes the characters feel very relatable and down to Earth (or whatever planet they are on).

The only person on Serenity who isn’t a criminal is a prostitute (“companion”). This kind of setting is ripe for brilliant expeditions into the core of morality, religion, government, and law. As I watch I can’t help but root for the crew of Serenity, even though they are “evil” by most standards. However, I don’t root for them in the same way I root for Darth Vader. It’s not because they are cool or badass (some of them are)… it’s because they are so damn likable and compelling (except for Jayne… he’s an ass, but he is so good at being an ass that it’s ok). As this universe unfolds before you, it becomes very clear that morality and legality are two very different issues.

Firefly lasted only 14 episodes before its tragic cancellation (the series is available here) or you can watch them for free on Hulu (here). Make sure you start from the first episode! 

Watch the show to find out what this sign means!

Post cancellation DVD sales were so strong and the cult following that the show had cultivated brought about a movie followup called Serenity (available here).

Joss Whedon has also penned two, three issue Serenity comics (available here & here). 

These works are clearly a labor of love by Joss. Each installment is filled with morally gray plot lines, and brilliantly witty dialog. I just wish there were more installments. 

I strongly recommend that you give it a shot.