Hi, folks...

This is my first post after just registering here, though I've been a longtime lurker.

First, let me say "Avatar" is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I really enjoy it, the story, the filmmaking, the effects, the writing, the acting, etc.

Second, we've all heard the comparrisons to Pocahontas and Ferngully, and have drawn our own conclusions and justifications for any similarities (some of which are valid, in my view, others are not--but NONE of which diminish my appreciation or enjoyment of Cameron's film... "Pocahontas" is, in fact, my favorite Disney film! lol Though the themes are similar, I'm content with the differences in the movie, as well).

Having never been bothered by any of the above, I actually stumbled across a book I read as a teenager that I haven't thought of in YEARS, and which I really loved as a kid. I was astonished to recall the story, and how... quite frankly... "Avatar" is pretty much copied from the elements of Ben Bova'sThe Winds of Altair.

In fact, originally published in 1983, the book was just re-released on March 30, 2010, with a new cover that quotes Orson Scott Card as saying, Avatar, like most sci-fi films, lets us see with our eyes what the great writers of science fiction long since imagined and wrote down in words. Nowhere is this clearer than with Ben Bova's The Winds of Altair--this is the book to read in order to understand the heart and bones of the story Avatar tried to tell.

The book's description on it's back cover:
Earth is an old planet, and her teeming masses are running out of resources... and time. It is up to men such as Jeff Holman to discover a haven for Earth's billions. Altair IV is one such planet, and Holeman is determined to transform this world into one where the human race can survive.

Star probes had long before informed Earth that Altair IV had a flourishing ecology with one very tough beast at the top of the food chain, a best that will have to be dealt with before the human colony ships arrive. The beast is not only tough, but smart as a man.

Holamn is faced with a soul-wrenching decision--for to make Altair IV habitable for humans, all native life must die.

The story is about Jeff Holman transporting his and other colonists' consciousness into the body of a member of the dominant alien species (in this story, sentient, intelligent-as-humans, but still non-humanoid "wolfcats") on the planet through sitting on a special couch that contours to his body and placing a helmet on his head. The atmosphere is inhospitable to humans, and they can only terraform the planet by working through the bodies of the aliens who's consciousness they posses.

I just started rereading it, and was FLOORED by the first chapter's description of Altair IV. Obviously, the wolfcats aren't blue, humanoid Navi... and they're terraforming, rather than strip mining, but other than those elements, the rest of the story is shockingly similar...

I don't think this bothers me (continue to LOVE "Avatar"!), so much as astonishes me that I haven't yet heard the author, Ben Bova, make any type of claim of plagarism, when it clearly is very much the same.

I wonder if anyone here has heard anything like that...?

I'll post some excerpts, in a few min.

D

Personally, I think it's just that Avatar is retelling a classic science fiction story, and I'm sure you can find many many books and movies out there with a similar plot-line. These days I think it's almost impossible to tell a story that hasn't been told before in some form. Plus the humans in Avatar have absolutely no intention of terraforming Pandora, they merely want the minerals. I'm glad the author isn't jumping on the "Plagiarism" bandwagon though, because that really gets annoying .

Anyways, sometimes it's not as much about the story you tell, but the way you tell it.

EDIT: Although it it's that much like Avatar I might have to check it out.

You make a fair point, the two stories are remarkably similar...Perhaps this is a case of subconsuius(sorry, i'm a terrible speller) plagarisim? There are many other stories similar to avatar, so perhaps JC was unwittingly influenced.

I wanna get that book now

Anyway, JC himself said that Avatar was inspired by "every science-fiction book he's ever read". So I wouldn't be surprised if he got most of his ideas from WoA. Maybe the author doesn't care enough to sue for plagiarism? or maybe he's just waiting for the right moment to sue.

P.S. If you've not already read it, I highly recommend "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman. Great piece of sci-fi. Ridley Scott is set to direct the movie adaptation.